Gerda Schneider

Gerda Schneider (Gertrud, Gertrude; born 27 March 1900) was a German communist who was imprisoned by Nazi Germany beginning from 1933 until 1945 and co-author of The Last Stage with Wanda Jakubowska.

Biography From 1937 to 1939, she was a political prisoner at the Lichtenburg concentration camp. On 26 May 1939, she was among 900 women transported from Lichtenburg to Ravensbrück. On 26 March 1942 she was transferred to Auschwitz, with the first transport of female prisoners from the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Gerda Schneider received the camp number 586 and became a Blockälteste. Jakubowska and Schneider worked with a group of German prisoners of war. One of film's characters, German political prisoner and communist Anna, was modeled on Gerda Schneider.